BY IRIS B. HOLTON

Sentinel City Editor

Earlier this week, Governor Rick Scott announced plans to resume his purge of the Florida voter role. Last year, a purge led to several errors and lawsuits by advocates of minorities who were targeted as non-citizens.

The last list began with 182,000 purged names, but withered to 2,600. Weeks before the Presidential election, the list of names had been reduced to 198.

Dr. Carolyn Collins, President of the Hillsborough County Branch NAACP said, “Florida citizens are about to suffer again at the hands of the head of state, Governor Rick Scott.  This is not the first time and it will not be the last time before the Governor’s 2014 election. “Purging” is defined as to make free of something unwanted; or the process of clearing the environment within a confined space.  The Governor stands ready to stop what he surmised as voter fraud and appears to address fraud with purging.

During the 2012 election, purging occurred within 90 days of the federal law ban. That purge correlated with partisan and the national election for President of the United States.  Likewise this purge maybe before the 90 days, but it is partisan-centered and self-serving.

“The Florida Director of Elections was quoted as describing this upcoming purge as ‘ensuring due process and the integrity of Florida’s voter’s rolls.’  Additionally, she describes the purge plan as ‘ongoing and continuous efforts to identify potentially ineligible registered voters.’

“Governor Scott, NAACP suggests you accept the 31% increase in self-defense cases since the passage of “Stand Your Ground” as the most significant issues facing the citizen’s safety rather than the .10% of non-citizens voter list purging,” she concluded.

Craig Latimer, Hillsborough County Supervisor of Elections said, “We have been notified that a new list is coming and we are just waiting to see the list and see what is reliable and credible. We will have to evaluate the list when we receive it.”

Latimer said his office does not have a timetable as to when the list will arrive, but said his employees are busy with other responsibilities. “We have had over 30,000 people move in the last year in Hillsborough County.”

He stated that employees are busy updating records, conducting maintenance on the voting machines, and carrying out everyday responsibilities to keep the office operational.